In music, term used for smaller members of the shawm family, used in England and France after 1500; “Hautboy” was the English term for oboe (the shawm’s descendant) in the 17th and 18th centuries.
ETYM Italian, from French hautbois. Related to Hautboy.
Musical instrument of the woodwind family, a refined treble shawm of narrow tapering bore and exposed double reed. The oboe was developed by the Hotteterre family of makers about 1700 and was incorporated in the court ensemble of Louis XIV. In B flat, it has a rich tone of elegant finish. Oboe concertos have been composed by Vivaldi, Albinoni, Richard Strauss, and others. Heinz Holliger is a modern virtuoso oboist.
Alto variants oboe d’amore and oboe da caccia feature in the work of J S Bach and other 18th-century composers, superseded by the 19th-century cor anglais in the modern orchestra. The rarely heard heckelphone is a baritone deviation.
A slender woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece; SYN. hautboy, hautbois.